Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante, was the center of a major merchandising push in the months surrounding its release. Atari developed video game tie-ins for both of its contemporary consoles, the Atari 2600 and the Atari 5200. Though both were produced by the same company and were based on the same film, differences in the two consoles resulted in two considerably different games. Atari intended to release both along with the film in 1984, but the company stopped shipment of all its games after its reorganization that year. Atari first previewed the 2600 version of the game at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago; it was released in limited numbers later that year, and became moderately rare. The 5200 version did not receive its release until 1986.

The 2600 version consists of two playable screens derived from video game styles popular at the time. The game can be played by one player, or two players alternating turns. The first screen is similar to the 1981 game Kaboom. The player controls protagonist Billy Peltzer, who runs side-to-side across the screen catching falling Mogwai to prevent them from eating hamburgers. In the second screen, similar to Space Invaders, the player moves Billy back and forth across the screen and shoots waves of descending gremlins.

The 2600 version is generally considered the inferior of Atari's two Gremlins games. Video game writer Brett Wiess calls it "derivative" and lacking in originality in its game play.The Video Game Critic awarded the game a "D" rating, criticizing the game for its "uninspired" gameplay and for requiring the "stiff, imprecise" joystick controller to be used instead of the paddle controller used by Kaboom. Humorist Seanbaby criticized it for its premise of defending hamburgers from gremlins as "clumsily rearranged Hamburglar game, or maybe the developers never expected it to be scrutinized by someone with my knowledge of where cheeseburgers are stored."